John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 51:4

"And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets." — Jeremiah 51:4 (ASV)

He proceeds with what we began yesterday to explain—that the time was near when God would take vengeance on the Babylonians.

Since, then, this could not happen without great destruction in a city so very populous, and as it could not be overthrown unless calamity extended itself throughout the whole country, therefore, he says that though Babylon should prepare great and powerful armies, it would yet be in vain, because they shall fall, he says, wounded everywhere in the land; and then he adds, and pierced through in her streets.

By these words he means that the Chaldeans would be slain not only in the open fields but also in the midst of the city.

He afterwards adds—